An Ultrathin Low-Invasive Flexible Probe for Accurate Neural Stimulating

Abstract

Neural probe plays an important role in neuroscience research and neurological diseases diagnosis. The flexible neural probes made by polymer emerging in recent years have been manifested more compliant and compatible with bio-tissues. However, the implantation of the flexible probe becomes another problem to be solved. In this letter, we propose a platinum black (Ptb) enhanced ultrathin flexible neural probe for accurate implantation. Benefiting from the anchoring structure on the flexible probe and the probe coupling with the shuttle by polyethylene glycol (PEG), reliable high-precision implantation has been demonstrated in agar model. Compared with traditional probe made with stiff shank, this flexible probe with anchoring structure is biocompatible and shows less immune reaction. In addition, the population spike (PS) was evoked successfully by biphasic stimulation in vivo.